It is said in the Lankavatara-sutra:
"The vehicle of discriminative wisdom is not subject to the
comprehension of the sophists. After the passing away of the protector, please tell, who will hold the tradition thereafter?"
[mDo sde ca, 165b]
Buddha replies:
"You, the wise man, should know that after the Parinirvana
of the Buddha, the holder of the system will come after some time has passed. In the land of Vidarbha in the south, one widely
renowned as "the monk Sri," who will be named "Naga," destroying the positions of nihilism and reificationism. He will profound
my vehicle to the world, the supreme Mahayana, will achieve the ground of joyfulness and he will then ascend to the Blissful
Land. [mDo sde ca, 165b]
Thus the Buddha said that definitive vehicle, free from both
nihilism and reificationism, would be propounded by Nagarjuna.
JC: After disseminating the doctrine it is written "he will
die after one hundred years." This prophesy of Lord Buddha is recorded here.
Acharya Nāgārjuna (Telugu) (c. 150 - 250 CE) was
an Indian philosopher, the founder of the Madhyamaka (Middle Path) school of Mahāyāna Buddhism, and arguably the
most influential Buddhist thinker after Gautama Buddha himself. He was born in South India. Nagarjuna may have arrived at
his positions from a desire to achieve a consistent exegesis of the Buddha's doctrine as recorded in the Canon. In the eyes
of Nagarjuna the Buddha was not merely a forerunner, but the very founder of the Madhyamaka system. wikipedia.
JC: We can see that Lord Buddha foresaw the dogmatism and the
need for removal of nihilism and reificationism in the Buddhic teachings. Nāgārjuna came 150 - 250 CE as predicted
and the Tibetan Master DK informs us that there will again be sent trained disciples as the need for further reform will be
necessary. The sophistry and mis reading of the Buddhic system is highly apparent. Please see paper "A Golden Lotus Sutra"
"The Speech of Gold"... 'Tsong Kapa reveals in his own autobiography that after extensive and extended contemplation he was
rewarded with a vision of the great Indian Madhyamaka Masters attaining complete understanding of the Madhyamaka philosophical
view as expounded by Nagarjuna. JPC'
Buddhism will be spreading and becoming increasingly dogmatic...
the Buddha will send two trained disciples to reform Buddhism. EXT 573.
Nāgārjuna's primary contribution to Buddhist philosophy
is in the further development of the concept of śūnyatā, or "emptiness," which brings together other key Buddhist
doctrines, particularly anatta (no-self) and pratītyasamutpāda (dependent origination). For Nāgārjuna,
it is not merely sentient beings that are empty of ātman; all phenomena are without any svabhāva, literally "own-nature"
or "self-nature", and thus without any underlying essence; they are empty of being independent. This is so because they are
arisen dependently: not by their own power, but by depending on conditions leading to their coming into existence, as opposed
to being. Nāgārjuna was also instrumental in the development of the two-truths doctrine, which claims that there
are two levels of truth in Buddhist teaching, one which is directly (ultimately) true, and one which is only conventionally
or instrumentally true, commonly called upāya in later Mahāyāna writings. wikipedia.
JC: Teaching on Emptiness: "Destroying the
positions of nihilism and reificationism."
Tsong Kapa states that "some take emptiness to mean nothingness
and so depreciate it." It is therefore crucial that we practice compassion and generosity of spirit, for without the practice
of the "great compassion" there will be no enlightenment which these lead to. A Buddha is the epitome of compassion [a Nirmanakaya
- the Buddha of Compassion." - Voice of the Silence, p. 97]. A precise understanding of emptiness of any inherent self reality
in all things lead to comprehension of the lack of the essence of self and the eternal reality of all things being dependant
on "cause and effect" and the dependence of all phenomena on these.
This is the essence of the Buddhist teaching on karma and the
cycle of rebirth the essence of which is said should not be "undermined". This the great Bodhisattvas and Buddhas confirm.
Liberation form suffering and rebirth is the prime lesson within the study of the great Buddhist philosophy and is in accordance
with the ageless wisdom. A true understanding leads to the qualities of a true listener and a "reverence to the accomplished
Bodhisattvas".
To be empty of reality or essence means only that all "things"
are conditioned by causes and effects and are not self constituted. The term "emptiness" has a "meaning, a "use" and a "sense"
as a possible object of experience. All vehicles of earthly experience are products of cause and effect within the "lower
realms". Therefore, the mis understanding of this term "emptiness" is condemned by Tsong Kapa as it leads to refutation of
this teaching and by default to the refutation of cause and effect. If one accepts the second fundamental of HPB, the law
of preiodicity and karma, then one by default must accept the teaching on emptiness of the Buddhas, or they should concede
that they have not understood the teachings.
The first fundamental acknowledges the three ray logi and the
seven ray chronologers, and to deny ray energy is a mathematical impossibility and would break the laws of physics and cosmic
mathematics, not to mention the one law of karma. Thus, the great teaching on "emptiness" by the Bodhisattvas and Buddhas
confirm this as the dependence of all things [the truth of dependant origination] on cause and karmic effect. In other words
"Whatever depends on conditions is empty of intrinsic [self] reality" as Tsong Kapa so eloquently informs. Tsongkhapa is not
suggesting that the absence of intrinsic being [reality] is the ultimate nature of reality! Let us recall "some take emptiness
to mean nothingness and so depreciate it."
JPC.
20/9/08.
"The Three Principal Aspects of the Path"
by Lama Tsongkhapa
I will explain as well as I can
The essential meaning of all the Conqueror's
scriptures,
The path praised by the excellent Conqueror children,
The port for the fortunate wishing liberation.
Whoever are not attached to the pleasures of mundane existence,
Whoever strive
in order to make leisure and fortune worthwhile,
Whoever are inclined to the path pleasing the Conqueror Buddha,
Those
fortunate ones should listen with a clear mind.
Without a complete thought definitely to leave cyclic existence
There is no
way to stop seeking pleasurable effects in the ocean of existence.
Also, craving cyclic existence thoroughly binds the
embodied.
Therefore, in the beginning determination to leave cyclic existence should be sought.
Leisure and fortune are difficult to find
And life has no duration.
Through
familiarity with this,
Emphasis on the appearances of this life is reversed.
If you think again and again
About deeds and their inevitable effects
And
the sufferings of cyclic existence,
The emphasis on the appearances
Of future lives will be reversed.
If, having meditated thus, you do not generate admiration
Even for an instant
for the prosperity of cyclic existence,
And if an attitude seeking liberation arises day and night,
Then the thought
definitely to leave cyclic existence has been generated.
Also, if this thought definitely to leave cyclic existence
Is not conjoined
with generation of a complete aspiration to highest enlightenment,
It does not become a cause of the marvellous bliss of
unsurpassed enlightenment.
Thus, the intelligent should generate the supreme altruistic intention to become enlightened.
All ordinary beings are carried by the continuum of the four powerful currents,
Are
tied with the tight bonds of actions difficult to oppose,
Have entered into the iron cage of apprehending self (inherent
existence),
Are completely beclouded with the thick darkness of ignorance,
Are born into cyclic existence limitlessly, and in their births
Are tortured
ceaselessly by the three sufferings.
Thinking thus of the condition of mothers who have come to such a state,
Generate
the supreme altruistic intention to become enlightened.
If you do not have the wisdom realising the way things are,
Even though you
have developed the thought definitely to leave cyclic existence
And the altruistic intention, the root of cyclic existence
cannot be cut.
Therefore work at the means of realising dependent-arising.
Whoever, seeing the cause and effect of all phenomena
Of cyclic existence and
nirvana infallible,
Thoroughly destroys the mode of misapprehension of those objects [as inherently existent]
Has entered
on a path that is pleasing to Buddha.
As long as the two, realisation of appearances -
the infallibility of dependent-arising
- and the realisation of emptiness -
The non-assertion [of inherent existence] -
Seem to be separate, there is still
no realisation
Of the thought of Shakyamuni Buddha.
When [the two realisations exist] simultaneously without alternation
And when
from only seeing dependent-arising as infallible,
Definite knowledge entirely destroys the mode of apprehension
[of
the conception of inherent existence],
then the analysis of the view [of reality] is complete.
Further, the extreme of [inherent] existence is excluded
[by knowledge of
the nature] of appearances
[existing only as nominal designations],
And the extreme of [total] non-existence is excluded
[by knowledge of the nature] of emptiness
[as the complete absence of inherent existence and not the absence of nominal
existence].
If within emptiness the appearance of cause and effect is known
You will not
be captivated by extreme views.
When you have realised thus just as they are
The essentials of the three principal aspects
of the path,
Resort to solitude and generate the power of effort.
Accomplish quickly your final aim, my child.
The 3 principal aspects of the path are:
- the definite thought to leave cyclic existence and the abandonment of pleasure;
- the cultivation of an altruistic intention (strong compassion) by viewing all
beings as precious as our own mother;
- the correct view of emptiness.
Tsong Khapa suggests that possessing one or two of these alone is not enough -
all three must be thoroughly and completely developed to create a true Buddhist path. www.
